BHUBANESWAR : Odisha faces a unique food security challenge affecting children, which needs urgent action, said eminent civil society leader Jagadananda on Wednesday.
Speaking at the national symposium on ‘AI and the Right to Food’ organized by SOA here, he noted that around 29 per cent of children under five years of age are stunted, while mothers in the age group of 15 to 29 suffer from malnutrition.
The former state information commissioner stated that the malnutrition scenario is even more precarious in tribal areas. Referring to Odisha’s overdependence on rain-fed agriculture, he emphasised the need to focus on climate-resilient agriculture, as there is a link between water management and food security.
Principal scientist and head of the Central Horticultural Experiment Station of ICAR, Govinda Chandra Acharya, expressed concern over India’s 105th position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) of 2024 and called for urgent action to promote food production and improve the quality of agriculture.
SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pradipta Nanda said the challenge of attaining the SDG goal is immense, as India is the most populous country where resources are limited. He noted that SOA has set up two research centers to conduct research on climate and develop climate-resilient agriculture.
Dean of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences Prof. Santosh Rout and Dean (Students’ Welfare) of SOA Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das also spoke.